Spamming filter

[UBT - Mikee]

No, not a spam filter but the filter that changes words like spam to spam in this forum!

Ever written the word spam only to find it replaced with the word spam instead? Yeah, even innocuous words like spam, spam and spam get spammed! You can say bacon or eggs (you know where this is going?) but not spam.

So if I was having one of my rants, which I occasionally do (or am), I can't say spam for fear of it being replaced by spam.

Words like spam and spam are being replaced! Where's the sense in that? If I went for a test on my spam at the spam clinic, I couldn't report that my spam was very well thank you!

Here it comes...

So bacon is ok, spam isn't, ham is ok, but spam isn't, eggs is ok but spam isn't....

So going to the cafe isn't a problem anymore with all this spammy spam.

So what can we have then, without any profanity of course

Altogether now....

You can have spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam or....



BUT under no circumstances can you say spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, (you can say)  baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam.

Where was I?

Right just a bit of fun then...

We're all old enough and daft enough to write what we think and I, for one, would like to say it as it is. If anyone does step over the mark I'm  sure one of the moderators can replace or delete the offending remark.

Definition of a moderator

"Almost all moderators on all forums can move discussions to different sections of the forum, close discussions, edit the content of individual postings, answer questions (or help people with problems), and stick discussions so they remain visible in their forum section even if no new postings are made to them."

One of my more spammy better rants I think!

So, the question is... do we need a spammy profanity filter?

[Sir Cracked of the Mind]

Well it fucking well saved you from seeing that fucking comment, hasn't it.

Just checking, it does work..

[melter65]

If I ever feel the need to swear I'll just type F*ck or Bo**ocks, so we all know what I mean, but, hopefully, no one is offended as the full word isn't there!

[Grinning Grunny]

Why not just type *%^£$%(@££^** and leave it their imagination?

[UBT - Timbo]

No, not a spam filter but the filter that changes words like spam to spam in this forum!

snip....

So, the question is... do we need a spammy profanity filter?

Hi all,

Let's clear this up very simply.

1) We DO use a word filter, which replaces certain words with the word "spam" - if I was really clever, I'd make the word filter replace the actual word with perhaps the same word, but with say asterisks replacing vowels so people can then know what the real word was/is. As it is, I keep it simple and use a single word "spam".

2) We have an open registration system, whereby people can join and then post messages straight away, so there's always a risk that someone might join and then start posting messages including unacceptable words.

3) The HELP section was, until Christmas, totally open, so even guests could post messages. Again, there were some instances of unacceptable posts being made which we had to delete when we became aware of them - just before Xmas, we had a spate of these, so to give people a break over Xmas, I switched the "open" section to "closed". (The HELP section will be re-opened to guest postings soon).

In both case 2 and 3, the word filter has spared our blushes a number of times, when unwanted messages have been made.

4) As admins and mods of this public access forum (coz it's mostly open for anyone to view), I think it reasonable to assume that the forum could be found by anyone of ANY age group. As such, I think profanity is unacceptable and we have a social responsibility to ensure that postings on the forum can be read by any age group. - if you can't string a sentence together without using swear words, then quite frankly, you need to go back to school.

5) The task of moderation :
i) requires mods to read most if not every posting to ensure acceptable language is used - and it's an unfair burden to expect our volunteer mods to do this every day.
ii) COULD take place on EVERY posting, prior to being displayed....but this would destroy the "immediacy" of the forum, as well as placing a huge burden on the mods.

Of course, if we have to rely on mods to police the forum, then I don't expect them to do this for love. So they will need to receive something for their work - and I'm not talking about packets of Hobnobs.

So, paid for moderation would be the next step....so then the forum might then need to be open only to subscribers.....you can see where this is leading ????

6) Our forum is regularly visited by all major search engines. As such, any profanity will be enshrined in their cache records for years to come - and thats the last thing I really want.

7) The OP talked about being adult and being allowed to have free speech. Well, as we know not everyone can act in an adult way and hence until the forum software allows individual users to have their own individual settings, so for now, everyone (known or unknown) has to either be trusted to not use profanities, or else some degree of filtering needs to be used where new or guest members feel the need to spout off about something.

As it happens, only a few (25 in fact) objectionable words are filtered - and these are the sort of words that (usually) are only be spoken on TV (for instance) post-watershed and include common swear words, racist words and sexist words and some of their derivatives.

However, words that are spoken are transient, lasting seconds...the written word lasts for as long as the carrier allows (eg books).

So, I'm happy to tweak the word filter... just give me some feedback here and I/we can come up with something more sensible - but I do think it appropriate that all postings are readable by anyone and without causing offence.

Personally, I feel that the English language has more than enough quaint colloquial words available that will give enough "meaning" to any members thoughts and musings, without needing to resort to profanities....

regards

Tim

[NaRyan]

Only time I have seen the filter is in the chat room.
And the word it filtered, well I never realy thought of it as a "bad word".

As I usualy go by the "Mum test", if I say a word and then get yelled at (he he), I know it's a bad one  :lol:

However, I have been a "moderator" before on a ISP related fourm, and there was quite a lot of "spam" going on, that we had to manualy remove.
So I can see the point of a filter, as their is always going to be the 1 sad peep, who loves to do nothing more than "spam"

[UBT - Mikee]

Well, I'm all for real bad words being banned. It's just that innocuous words are also banned when used in their correct context. Take the word pri_ck for example. I know it can be used in at least 2 ways, the profanity filter doesn't and it's not until the post is posted that you realise that now "you got a spam from a rose bush" that it all goes pear-shaped. Bad example I know.

Hey, I had a bad day yesterday and seeing someone else's post had been 'filtered' just wound me up a bit. (Not feeling much better now, thank you for asking!)

Okey dokey. I can't see an easy way round this other than buying a super duper filter that can analyse posts to see if suspect words are used in their correct context to be allowed. As stated above the easy use of a * will do just as well.

Hmmm... In that, case can't the 25 words be adjusted with a couple of *'s? Real bad words with something like 'fluffy bunny rabbit'

I'll get me other coat.

[UBT - Timbo]

Well, I'm all for real bad words being banned. It's just that innocuous words are also banned when used in their correct context. Take the word pri_ck for example. I know it can be used in at least 2 ways, the profanity filter doesn't and it's not until the post is posted that you realise that now "you got a spam from a rose bush" that it all goes pear-shaped. Bad example I know.

Hi Mike,

I'm happy to change the inserted word to something else.....but you're right that it's the context of the word that makes the difference....although most profanities aren't actually "dual meaning" or even part of another word, although there is that very good football player called "Shi_ttu" - God help the footie commentators...!

Hey, I had a bad day yesterday and seeing someone else's post had been 'filtered' just wound me up a bit. (Not feeling much better now, thank you for asking!)

We all have 'em, once in a while...the main thing is to bring this sort of thing out into the open and to have a good chinwag about it...likewise, it might also help some of the newer members...!

Okey dokey. I can't see an easy way round this other than buying a super duper filter that can analyse posts to see if suspect words are used in their correct context to be allowed. As stated above the easy use of a * will do just as well.

Hmmm... In that, case can't the 25 words be adjusted with a couple of *'s? Real bad words with something like 'fluffy bunny rabbit'

I'll get me other coat.

Getting hold of said context sensitive filter might be an issue....not even sure if one's available.

And as for the replacement words, I'm open to suggestions - certainly something that might take the edge off would be useful....

eg:
f word = phuck
s word = sheet
b word = ruddy

regards

Tim

[NaRyan]

That's the problem with filters, they are just plain thick.
Back in the days of IRC I used to use a program called MIRCStats, that analyzed the log files and gave out various information.

One of the filters I added was a "The top 10 *&%$ users"
I had to tell the filter what words to look for and had to use wildcards.
had to put *word* as it would ignore "word" if it was in a sentance.

i.e without the * wildcard
"word" would be seen
"word." would not be seen
"bad word." would not be seen

Problem was it kept picking up on things that also contained those words, but were not "bad words", a certain place in the UK kept getting picked up by it, as it contained a 4 letter bad word

Thankfully a later version of MIRCStats added the option to exclude things like that.

Not realy the best example as this was made to look for the bad words, and then give "credit" to the worst peeps.
However strangley enough once peeps noticed that they were appearing in the Top 10, they started to back off!
You did get the odd silly peep who just sat their and swore, but the program actual ignored them, if they said the same thing more than once within 60 seconds, or if in the last hour the last 10 of their messages had the same content.
Plus when noticed they were quickly given the boot, and added to the programs ignore list

The "filter" had about 20 words to look for, but it had about 100 words to ignore!, due to normal words matching or people spelling a normal word wrong and making it match....

It might have taken the program a few seconds to create the webpages.
but it took me months of work on the filters to get them working right (not just the bad word ones)

[cris keys]

S****horpe?  

[UBT - Timbo]

S****horpe?  

Hi,

Oh that one....!

I was thinking of p*ickwillow

regards

Tim

[NaRyan]

S****horpe?  

Yup

I was thinking of p*ickwillow

new one to me

[UBT - mickyb69]

Why not keep the filter on the forum and not in the chat room.
I think most of the regular users don't bother with swearing, But you might find some people posting  to put new members off, Yes you can ban them once the admins  see it but by then we might have lost 10 new members.
As far as chat goes .. if you don't like it you can turn it off.

You will find it hard to stop every swear word because of the Alt Gr key
ie áéíóú    .........     príck ......theres always a way around a filter but don't make it too easy for them .
Oooooppppps

[cris keys]

Any of our members live here?

http://www.rudebritain.co.uk/images/rimswell.jpg

[Sir Cracked of the Mind]

There's a line from a song, talking about your maiden aunt, goes something like - "She's not only said it, She's done it as well"

If your that offended by the odd "explitive deleted" may be you need to take a good hard look at what important in your life....

Sad people if all you can find wrong in the world is the odd swear word!
If you want to see something offenceive follow this link to a picture of victims of a bomd explosion....that offensive...killing people just because you don't like their religion or lifestyle, not the odd swear word dropping into a conversation.

http://www.geocities.com/arabracismandi ... -blast.jpg

[UBT - Timbo]

T......Sad people if all you can find wrong in the world is the odd swear word!
If you want to see something offenceive follow this link to a picture of victims of a bomd explosion....that offensive...killing people just because you don't like their religion or lifestyle, not the odd swear word dropping into a conversation.

Hi,

Unfortunately, the word filter doesn't count the number of times a word is used, either in total or by a single member - hence there's no way to allow moderate use of a word - it's either all or nothing.

That's why when we set up the forum initially, there were some pretty "deep" discussions amongst a few of us as to what to allow and what not to... and we had to weigh up the pro's and con's of "free speech" vs "word filtering" in order to establish some way to create a useable forum that would help people if they wanted to get involved with BOINC.

As such, we've got something that is workable but not perfect. And until someone creates some forum software that allows a better way of doing some sort of automatic word moderation, then we're stuck with what we've got.

And what we've got ain't bad.

regards

Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Why not keep the filter on the forum and not in the chat room.
I think most of the regular users don't bother with swearing, But you might find some people posting  to put new members off, Yes you can ban them once the admins  see it but by then we might have lost 10 new members.
As far as chat goes .. if you don't like it you can turn it off.

You will find it hard to stop every swear word because of the Alt Gr key
ie áéíóú    .........     príck ......theres always a way around a filter but don't make it too easy for them .
Oooooppppps

Hi Micky,

The forum and chat rooms are linked to each other. So it cannot be unlinked (to the best of my knowledge).

regards

Tim

[Grinning Grunny]

Hey, anybody been here   http://www.snopes.com/photos/signs/austria.asp


or here   http://www.thom.org/gallery/signs/intercrs/

been to the second, as you do, got the teeshirt too. Had a wail of a time at the wedding we went for.